Washington Post Book World Best Book of the Year winner, National Book Award finalist, and New York Times best-selling author Elizabeth Benedict explores the sometimes disturbing psychology of relationships. Successful psychotherapist Eric Lavender is a confirmed bachelor until he meets alluring Colleen O'Brien Golden - a sexy divorce attorney with an elaborately concealed and fiercely guarded past.

Rules of Prey: A Lucas Davenport Novel

The "maddog" murderer who is terrorizing the Twin Cities is two things: insane and extremely intelligent. He kills for the pleasure of it and thoroughly enjoys placing elaborate obstacles to keep police befuddled. Each clever move he makes is another point of pride. But when the brilliant Lieutenant Lucas Davenport, a dedicated cop and a serial killer's worst nightmare, is brought in to take up the investigation, the maddog suddenly has an adversary worthy of his genius.

Nightwalkers

Cam Richter, needing a break from his too eventful detective career, is in search of more peaceful pastures in the North Carolina countryside. He buys a 700-acre antebellum plantation, the perfect location for restful solitude, but it doesn't take long for him to discover that his new locale is not as quiet as he'd hoped. Almost immediately, Cam finds himself caught up in mischievous pranks around his land, the site of a Civil War-era massacre.

A Suitable Vengeance: Inspector Lynley, Book 4

Two murders, one on the heels of the other, point in the direction of Thomas Lynley's younger brother Peter - a cocaine addict who ruins Thomas' engagement party, then disappears on the evening of the second murder.

The Innocent

Some mistakes can change your life forever. For Matt Hunter, that mistake came in one terrible moment when his attempt to help a friend and stop a fight resulted in an accidental death. Matt was convicted of manslaughter and sent to prison. Time that his peers spent in college, Matt endured behind bars.

Reasonable Doubts: Guido Guerrieri Series, Book 3

Guerrieri is asked to handle the appeal of Fabio Paolicelli, sentenced to 16 years for smuggling drugs. Paolicelli intially confessed to the crime, and everything seems stacked against the appeal. Guerrieri's reluctance to take on the case is intensified by the fact that he knows Paolicelli, and it is only the intervention of Paolicelli's beautiful wife, Natsu, that finally overcomes Guerrieri's reluctance.

Cherie says:"A Convincing Voice in Criminal Procedural Fiction"

Publisher's Summary

Washington Post Book World Best Book of the Year winner, National Book Award finalist, and New York Times best-selling author Elizabeth Benedict explores the sometimes disturbing psychology of relationships.

from work to keep listening to this treasure. The prose is rich, the characters complex and the narrator perfect!! I dread the ending of this book. I hope Audible attains more material from this gifted author!!

I've listened to a lot of stories in the past few years, and this one stands out as one of the best. You are pulled in quickly and you want to stay with it. One of those where you feel a little sad when it ends.

This book is beautifully written. It builds gradually to a nightmare scenario - but never with blunt instruments or gratuitous thrills. The way the story is told in the first person keeps the action very close. I don't think it's easy to tell stories in the first person unless the writer is very skilled and economical in their prose. This book held me rapt for the whole of the telling. Luckily I was on a long car ride for most of it. The narrator is first rate. I remember him from Stegner's Crossing to Safety. His phrasing is terrific, and he inspires real connection with the protagonist.

The plot unfolded very quickly and from then on it raced, somewhat breathlessly, to an ending so unsatisfying, so suddenly out of nowhere, that I actually went back to Audible.com to see if I'd missed the 3rd part. But no, that was it. The characters were so badly drawn, that I really didn't care about anyone in it. The "psychotic" wife who mislead everyone with whom she came in contact had a sad childhood and was abandoned by her father (we're told in a wikipedia-type paragraph or two). But the psycho-analyst husband, who didn't recognize this in his wife, was such a simpering, vapid, not too sharp guy, that I wasn't really keen on his kids (whose names you couldn't keep track of because they actually appeared perhaps a handful of times doing nothing particularly interesting or revealing) going to either of them. They would probably be better off staying with their nannie, the only one with any sense in the book.

Perhaps it's because I just finished In The Woods by Tana French. Elizabeth George, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Jodi Picoult, AS Byatt, Barbara Kingsolver, Alice Hoffman, Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale are a few of the extraordinary women writers I've read/listened to. Unfortunately Elizabeth Benedict, at least in this book, revealed little of their magic.

Your report has been received. It will be reviewed by Audible and we will take appropriate action.

Can't wait to hear more from this listener?

You can now follow your favorite reviewers on Audible.

When you follow another listener, we'll highlight the books they review, and even email* you a copy of any new reviews they write. You can un-follow a listener at any time to stop receiving their updates.

* If you already opted out of emails from Audible you will still get review emails by the listeners you follow.